Blackbird MKII The SR-71 Blackbird remains the coolest plane ever. Not only does it hold the speed record, but it also looks incredibly cool. Now, Lockheed Martins famous Skunk Works looks set to address that first part. They have surprised many aviation experts by revealing plans for Blackbirds spiritual successor, the SR-72. Also dubbed Blackbird, the SR-72 is to have a hypersonic cruise speed around Mach 6 - twice that of the original, definitive spy plane. Some may ask whether the world needs a Mach 6 spy plane in this era of small unmanned drones and high altitude satellite observations, but one of the design brief elements for the SR-72 is to help survive a day without space - read into that what you will! In order to reach Mach 6 without rockets and from a runway take-off, Lockheed has used some kind of hybrid turbine/scramjet engine. The details are under wrap, but I have read mention of a pre-cooler in the inlet to increase efficiency. This sounds very similar to what Reaction Engines is doing with the Sabre engine, so I hope theres no breach of IP going on here. This development represents a step forward into the hypersonic realm. Hypersonic aeroplanes (those travelling Mach 5 or above) are generally not taken seriously yet, and past attempts at creating them have not helped. They have mostly been expensive, single-use, rocket-boosted experiments with a flight duration in the range of minutes. Some serious contenders, like the aforementioned Reaction Engines, bring a glimmer of credibility and hope to the realm, but a major military name like Lockheed should put the giggles to bed on this one. Personally, I dont think the SR-72 is going to win any awards for its looks - unlike its iconic predecessor - but aerodynamics are obviously the primary design factor with any vehicle designed for hypersonic atmospheric flight, and it does look like something out of a space shoot-em-up game. Hopefully we will start to hear more from the hypersonic idea book in the coming years, preferably in the civilian travel sector. You can read more of the dry details at the Aviation Week article here: aviationweek/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_11_01_2013_p0-632731.xml&p=1 Thanks to Andy Cowen on facebook for the heads up on this one. click-to-read-mo.re/p/3Pwc
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:14:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015